The British winter: should you stay or go?

Get out and get active, or stay in and snuggle. Vincent Crump has 10 ways to embrace or escape the cold

Wales does castles rather well, and Carreg Cennen has a decent claim to be the most romantic of the lot: hoicked on a sharp pinnacle above billowing Carmarthenshire countryside, four miles south of Llandeilo.

It's a steep but invigorating climb to get there from the car park, signposted off the A483 - if the going gets tough, imagine yourself among Owain Glyndwr's rebels of 1403, intent on besieging the place. What remains today is a silvery ruin, but there are barbicans and battlements to romp across, and the views go on for ever.

A day cycling Suffolk's new Painters' Trail feels like pedalling straight into a John Constable canvas. The route freewheels through 69 miles of Stour Valley scenery in all, but the essential chunk is the 16-mile loop from Manningtree via East